Hand washing prevents the spread of germs and disease. Improved hand hygiene can prevent illnesses, as can prevent spreading of germs and illnesses to others (see, e.g., Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2010). Early evidence of clinical benefit from hand hygiene became available from work by Semmelweiss (see, e.g., Stone (2000) Hand hygiene—the case for evidence-based education. J. Royal Society Med. 94:278-281). Situations especially critical for hand cleansing include food preparation at home or in restaurants, caring for sick persons, treating wounds, the context of discharging metabolic end-products, changing soiled undergarments of infants, and handling ducklings and chicks (see, e.g., Stop Germs! Stay Healthy! Wash Your Hands by U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1 page) (accessed Jan. 21, 2012); After You Touch Ducklings or Chicks, Wash Your Hands So You Don't Get Sick! by U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1 page) (accessed Jan. 21, 2012); Don't Let What Happened to Me, Happen to You by U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1 page) (accessed Jan. 21, 2012).
Cleansing of hands by hand-disinfectants, by children and staff of daycare centers has been shown to mitigate outbreaks and to reduce absenteeism (see, e.g., Lee and Greig (2008) J. Environ. Health. A review of enteric outbreaks in child care centers: effective infection control recommendations. 71:24-32; Kuhlmann-Berenzon et al (2008) Alcohol-based hand-disinfection reduced children's absence from Swedish day care centers. Acta Paediatr. 97:1672-1680). Cleansing hands has also been shown to reduce the incidence of viral infections, as well as bacterial infections (see, e.g., Cannon and Davis (2005) Washing our hands of the congenital cytomegalovirus disease epidemic. BMC Public Health. 5:70; Thompson (1994) Infectious diarrhea in children: controlling transmission in the child care setting. J. Paediatr. Child Health. 30:210-219).
Bacteria, viruses and germs live on surface areas, such as: counter tops, faucets, tabletops, toys, stoves, sinks, refrigerators, door knobs, and the like. The present disclosure can be used to clean hands and wipe down surfaces that are frequently touched by children.
Hand sanitizers have become a surrogate for hand washing. However, hand sanitizers may be less effective than the present disclosure because not all hand sanitizers contain the 60% alcohol necessary to effectively kill germs; hand sanitizers may not be as effective as soap and warm water; and because hand sanitizers may not effectively penetrate grease and oils.
The long standing need for portable personal hygienic systems have not been fully addressed. The present disclosure provides a mobile hand washing device which overcomes certain drawbacks of conventional hand washing or hand cleansing regimes.